Badal
by necessarily-anonymous
Summary: Harry is transported to another universe where he isnt 'the boy who lived' but actually 'the boy who everyone wished had died'. how will he survive in his new surroundings and who exactly has taken his place back home?
1. Chapter 1

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Summary : Harry is transported to another universe where he isnt the 'Boy who lived' but the 'Boy who everyone secretly wished had died'. How exactly will he cope in this strange world and who has taken his place back home?

Disclaimer: if I did own the books, I would not be writing this would I?…

This does contain slight slash implications

Chp 1 :

Harry Potter, stared at his porridge, wondering whether his life could be any better. It made perfect sense, he told himself. He deserved to be happy! After all Voldemort was gone, he had 2 fiercely loyal friends and now a gorgeous girl friend. He smiled slightly at the thought of Ginny. After the war he sure she would never take him back but she had. He stirred his porridge with a fork, vaguely registering Ron and Hermione having one of their usual bickerings. He had thought it would stop when they got together, but instead it had gotten worse. With a sly smile he thought that their make up sessions more than made up for their fights.

'What's wrong with Malfoy?', asked Ron, with his mouth half full of waffle. Harry broke out of his reverie and said, 'Huh?'

Ron swallowed his waffle and pointed his fork at the slytherin table where one Draco Malfoy was staring at them, rather.. wistfully. Harry felt the colour rise in his cheeks. Just a week ago Malfoy had cornered him after Potions class and said that he liked him and wanted to be something more than friends. Harry winced at the memory and at his own reaction. He had been so shocked by the proposal that he stared at Malfoy's face for a moment and then laughed. When he saw the serious look on the other boys face, he said he wasn't gay and had run off, not looking back even once. He sighed, knowing how Malfoy must feel, after all, he still felt a slight pain in his chest whenever he thought of Cho. So for the past few days he had tried to be nice to Malfoy, that is he had not insulted him even once this whole week.

Harry shrugged, 'What's _not_ wrong with Malfoy, should be the question.', he said laughing loudly, 'Anyway, what home work did we have today, Herm?', he continued, hoping that he could divert their attention somewhere else.

Hermione didn't register what he said immediately, she was staring back at the slytherin, with a frown on her face, 'He doesn't even realize that we're looking back at him!', she said, surprised. There was a pause as she blinked a few times and then she suddenly turned to Harry, who was sitting beside her.

'_I _think he's staring _at_ someone', she grinned and tilted her head , her expression reminding Harry of a particularly smug Cheshire cat. He felt a heat around his collar and he looked away quickly, laughing nervously, 'Really? How odd.' He said, stirring the porridge more vigorously.

'Bloody Git.', Ron muttered under his breath.

'Don't say that Ron', Hermione warned, 'He's our head boy and deserves our respect.'

Ron scowled, 'the only _reason_ he became head boy is because his father has the whole administration in his pocke_t_.'

Harry sighed as Ron and Hermione went into another of their arguments. This time it was irritating.

He got up from the table rather violently, and walked off , ignoring Deans cry of protest over his spilt juice.

As he passed numerous chattering paintings Harry wondered whether he _was_ really happy. He had every reason to be, but yet, he seemed to brood more often than not. What was wrong with him? why did he feel so empty? He thought of Ginny's angelic face and felt slightly better. However Ginny was just a momentary high. Yes, he liked her, but knew he did not love her. It wasn't going to last for more than a few months, But Ginny, he sighed, Ginny loved him. she had said it to him tons of times. She loved him and could not live without him. he took a deep breath. He could not hurt her, but then how to tell her the truth? He was still pondering over this fact when he felt himself bieng pulled right wards into a closet.

'Hey-!', he yelled. In his mind he saw a flash of Voldemort with his twisted grin. Then he heard her voice,

'Hey, gorgeous', .

Harry pushed Ginny away from him roughly,

'Don't _do_ that!', he said, clutching his wand, willing his heart to calm down. He shut his eyes trying to erase the memory from his mind. however the sickening fear he had felt still raked his insides.

Harry heard a click and soon saw the face of Ginny Weasely staring back at him with a slightly hurt expression on her face.

'What Happened?', she asked, .

'nothing', Harry muttered avoiding her eyes. He didn't want to admit that for a split second he had been convinced that he was being attacked. he quickly put his wand back in his pocket, hoping that Ginny hadn't noticed.

' 'You're such a bad liar Harry', She said quietly. The silence that followed almost made Harry flinch.

'Is there a reason why I'm stuck in a closet when I should be in class?', he asked with a forced smile, finally bieng able to calm himself down.

This usually would have illicited a smile from Ginny but today it just made creases on her forehead.

'Tell me what's wrong Harry.' She said , almost pleading, 'Then may be I can fix it.'

He laughed, 'Nothings wrong', he said offhandedly, leaning forward, trying to kiss her but Ginny took a step backwards,

'Oh no, not this time', she said. Harry distinctly heard a catch in her voice. He opened his mouth to speak but she interrupted him, 'Do you love me Harry?', she asked, her eyes wide and searching.

Harry stared at her, he had a stronge urge to laugh and say, 'you're kidding right', but resisted, 'What sort of question is that?', he said, pretending to be insulted.

Ginny closed her eyes and then opened them. This time there was no concern or worry but anger. Anger and hurt. It was as if his once sentence has transformed her completely.

'Answer it!', she cried. Harry's stomach constricted. Could he say it? His mind was telling him to spit it out but his heart…his heart…what was wrong with it? Why didn't it want him to say it? Say it dammit . they're just three bloody words. But nothing came out.

Ginny's lower lip trembled but she refused to cry.

'Good bye Harry', she said, spinning around and slamming the closet door on his face.

'Ginny! Wait!' Harry yelled , pulling the door open, panic burning his insides as he realised what had just happened. What had he done, he thought in horror.

However Ginny was nowhere to be seen. _Where did she go? Where did she go?_ , he thought. He spotted a door to his right. could he have gone in there? Somewhere in the back of his mind, Harry registered that he had never seen this door before but it was squashed by the one thought overwhelming him as he rushed through it -_ I CAN'T LOSE HER_!

authors note:

well that was the first chapter. I hope you liked it!

Yes, I know it was slightly boring, but I had to provide a background to this whole thing. Don't worry, the interesting part is soon to come!

So read and review ( constructive criticism is allowed), hehe.


	2. Harold

_I CAN'T LOSE HER!_

The thought was still buzzing in his head when he realised that he wasn't standing anymore but was on the floor. He blinked. How had he fallen? He got up , rubbing his aching back. He looked around, searching for any signs of Ginny. There was nothing. Just a desolate corridor stretching before him. He frowned, this place seemed different. He walked a few paces, noticing that the paintings on the walls seemed familiar enough but still having the feeling that he had never been here before.

He shrugged off the feeling, forcing himself to concentrate on the situation on hand. Right, he thought, if Ginny had come in here she would have had to turn into one of the doors, other wise he would have seen her.

He ran to the nearest door on the right and was about to open it when he heard a voice,

'H – Harold?'

for a moment Harry thought that the voice was speaking to someone else, then he realised that there was no one else in the corridor. He turned around, wondering who in their right mind would mistake _him_ for someone else.

The boy who stood in front of him could have not been more than twelve. And right now he was the most frightened looking twelve year old he had ever seen. Harry noticed not without a slight amount of surprise that when he turned around the boy flinched and walked several steps backward.

'Err – I'm not Harold', he said quickly, irritated that he had lost the precious few moments that would allow him to find Ginny. He opened the door and was dismayed to see another empty corridor with just as many doors. Harry felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. There was no hope now. she was gone. He felt like hitting himself. What the hell was wrong with him? 'I love you', how could that be difficult to say? damn him and his incapability to lie. He closed his eyes for a moment. Wait a second. This wasn't his fault. This was all Ginny's fault! She was the one who brought it up, not him. Women, he thought with great bitterness. Why couldn't she just be content with what they had going? It had been great…well, not great, but definitely better than what he had had with Cho.

Harry opened his eyes. Anything was better than what he had had with Cho. He sighed. Maybe he _was_ better off with Draco Malfoy. At least he wouldn't be putting up with this drama.

With the pit growing deeper and heavier, Harry turned and walked to the door from where he had come from.

It was a few seconds before he realised that there wasn't any door there. He felt anger dig into the hole in his gut. _Where the hell was the bloody door!_ He was sure it had been there! He cursed Hogwarts and magic in general and continued through the spot he had previously seen the door. It was then that he heard the voice again,

'H – Harold?'

Harry whirred around to see the boy still there with the same petrified look on his face. What the hell was wrong with him? he did not have the patience to deal with a stupid child right now!

'I _told_ you I'm not Harold!', he shouted. The boy jumped and looked almost ready to cry.

' I – I-'

That was far as he could go. The next moment he was in tears. It took Harry a full moment understand what was happening.. He stood in absolute shock as the boy fell to his knees, violently sobbing. Shit, he thought

'Err..I – I'm sorry..', Harry said, feeling extremely guilty. How could he have been so stupid? Obviously this boy had assumed his full name was 'Harold', and he had yelled at a kid for trying to speak to him! what had he become?

He bent down to help him up but as soon as he touched him, the boy cringed and scrambled to his feet. The tears had reduced, thankfully. Gods, he thought, what sort of overemotional kids did they breed now days?

'Umm..Are you okay?', he asked the boy cautiously.

The boy sniffed and was determinedly looking at the ground. Finally he spoke,

'I – I have something to ask of you'

Well, Harry thought, he really wasn't in the mood of indulging an obvious member of Colin Creevey's fan club, but it was going to be necessary. He sighed, 'Okay, just – just stop crying will you?'

He did. He was about to ask for some parchment when he realised that the boy did not have any. In fact not even the customary camera was hanging from his neck. Harry frowned, the feeling of apprehension was returning again.

He heard the boy take a deep breath,

'please let my brother go.', he said, almost pleading.

'What?'

The boy looked up for a second, a momentary flash of surprise in his eyes then it vanished, 'My brother, Fredrick, please, let him go.'

'Your brother?' Harry repeated dumbly. Obviously this kid _had_ mistaken him for someone else and was still doing it!

The boy nodded.

'Umm…I think you've got the wrong person. I don't know any Fredrick', Harry said slowly.

The boy looked up and now openly stared at him. he seemed confused, 'But you're Lord Harold Potter aren't you?'

_Lord?_ Harry thought, the uneasy feeling now spilling into the hole in the stomach, rather quickly.

'I'm Harry. Harry Potter', he said.

'B – but you don't like the name Harry', the boy said, openly incredulous.

'Who told you that?', Harry snapped, ' And who the hell are you?'.

The boy looked down again, 'I'm Abe, Fredrick's brother'

' Who the hell is Fredrick?' Harry said, extremely confused. Everyone knew him as Harry, no one called him Harold. And why was this boy refusing to look him in the eye? Surely he couldn't be that scared of him. And who the hell was he to tell him that _he_ didn't like the name Harry? He wouldn't be calling himself that if he didn't like it would he?

'Your boy friend.'

'_WHAT?_'

His outburst made little Abe scramble a few steps backwards. Harry stared at him, the unease he had been feeling had mutated into horror. Something was wrong, he could _feel_ it. Even the air here smelled different. He forced himself to remain calm. Obviously there was some other Harold Potter who had a boy friend named Fredrick. However as Harry repeated those thoughts in his head he realised how absurd it sounded. Another Potter in Hogwarts and he didn't know about it? That wasn't possible!

He looked around at the paintings. Yes he was definitely in Hogwarts. The only question remained was _when_.

'Umm..Abe, what year is it?', he asked, hoping he sounded calm.

Abe blinked but answered anyway, '2004'

'But – but', Harry spluttered, 'that's this year!'.

'Are you alright my lord?', Abe asked, backing away a few more steps.

Harry's mind was in turmoil. If this was the current year and he was in Hogwarts then why the hell did everything seem so different? Why did he not recognize this boy and why – _why­_ did he think he had a boy friend name Fredrick?

He massaged his forehead with his knuckles, calming himself down. It did no one any good by panicking. He saw Abe who was still in the process of backing away slowly. He then turned and ran. Harry saw him turning and yelled,

'Wait!'

However Abe did not wait, and his raised voice just made him run faster. Before Harry could use magic he had turned a corner and disappeared.

'Shit!', he cursed. What was he supposed to do now? he ran after Abe and after a few seconds he heard a babble of voices. He felt more than a little anxious. Running had made the feeling of unease swirl around inside him, coating the inside of his stomach. He slowed down as he recognized the entry to the great hall.

For a moment before he pushed the door open Harry felt a little hope inside him that he would see the old Howarts with no Abe or Harold but it was crushed to tiny particles of dust as soon as he entered.

Harry stood with a mingled expression of shock, fear and disbelief at the great hall in front of him. He saw no one – absolutely no one that he could recognize.

aaaaaaaaaaaaa

Harold Potter was angry. No, he was not angry, he was _furious._ One minute he was having a nice little session with Fredrick and the next he was on the cold floor with a very bad back ache. And the worse thing was that he was no longer in his room but in front of 3 very annoying mudbloods who refused to stop staring. He heard one of them speak,

'Err, 'mione, what happened to Harry?'

aaaaaaaaaaaaa

right so there it was! The second chapter. You were introduced to Harry's darker alter ego, Harold! Hehe.

So read and REVIEW. It really means a lot to me

Ciao


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